The LA Song Job
by Falcons-Tears
Summary: The Leverage crew takes on a case in LA and before Eliot knows it, his past and his present clash, not without consequences of course and Eliot suddenly must decide if he wants to stay with Nate or if he wants to be with Angel  Slash, Warnings and inside
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** I really hate myself for this, but since I've recently re-watched all Angel episodes Lindsey was in and all the dynamic between Angel and Lindsey wouldn't leave me alone, so this story was born *sighs* It's also my first attempt at an Angel story, so I really hope it's not too bad *smiles hopefully* Comments would be most appreciated *puppy dog eyes*

There will also be a lot of flashbacks in this story, but they will always be marked so that you don't get confused *smiles* The title will maybe change too, but I'm not sure yet *smiles sheepishly*

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**And just so you're not confused about the storyline and the time line, here's a little explanation and I hope this helps:**

It's a **Leverage/Angel crossover and Lindsey and Eliot are the same person**. Lindsey left LA after Dead End and never came back, becoming Eliot Spencer in the process. This is also the point where the Angel Universe goes AU. There was never a big apocalypse and the Angel crew didn't take over Wolfram and Hart. They're still Angel Investigation and Wolfram and Hart is still full of evil lawyers and Angel's crew still tries to take down the firm.

As far as Leverage goes, well it is set somewhere in the middle of season two, so if you go by the release dates of both series, it has been about eight years since Lindsey left LA and became Eliot Spencer. The Leverage universe isn't changed until now and they don't know that vampires exist, since even Hardison hasn't been able to find Eliot's former alias Lindsey McDonald. *g* Well, and now Eliot's past and present meet *g*

I hope that helped clear things up a little, if you still are unsure about something, just ask in the review or per PM and I'll answer your questions, well the ones that won't spoil the story *g*

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Now have fun reading the story and please keep in mind that English isn't my native language, so I hope there won't be too many mistakes...

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**Warnings: **This is sort of an AU and it has SLASH (Nate/Eliot as a current pairing and a love triangle with Angel) just so you're warned

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**Summary:** The Leverage crew takes on a case in LA and before Eliot knows it, his past and his present clash, not without consequences of course and Eliot suddenly must decide if he wants to stay with his Nate or if he wants to be with Angel, someone he loved for a long time, but thought he'd never have...

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**Disclaimer: **None of the Leverage and Angel characters belong to me, I just borrowed them for this little story and I intend to give them back sometime... this is just for fun and not for money...

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><p><strong>The LA Song Job<strong>

**Chapter 1**

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><p>.<p>

"I hate LA."

Eliot Spencer had said that sentence so often in the last four days that the team hadn't really listened to them anymore. But now, when they heard the obvious grunts of fighting over their earbuds and saw him fighting ,the thugs that had come at him, on the small screen in Lucille, Hardison's van, they realized that he had been serious from the very beginning and that he really hated this city, because he was fighting with a viciousness they had seldom seen from him.

"Eliot, are you going to be okay on your own?" Nathan Ford questioned worriedly and his eyes never left the younger man.

"Yeah, I'll be okay, but stop watching this," Eliot's voice came over the com again and it had an edge to it that Nate had never heard in the Hitter's voice and Nate was pretty sure that it hadn't been there, because Eliot had taken down one of the thugs while he had spoken.

"Turn off the video, Hardison," he commanded without hesitation, ignoring the protest he saw on Sophie's and Hardison's face.

Parker's look was more a disappointed one since she loved to see Eliot fight.

"It's turned off, man, but please let us know if you need our help," Hardison told their Hitter, before Nate could say something.

"I'll take out the earbud too, so don't worry too much," Eliot then was heard, his breathing heavy.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Eliot," Sophie tried, but Eliot didn't answer them anymore.

"Shit," Hardison cursed, after his fingers had hovered over the button to turn the video signal back on while Parker was about to open the door to go and see what was going on.

Nate quickly reached out with his hand to stop her and said in his stern "dad" voice: "Don't go in there, Parker. You'll only distract Eliot from the fight."

.

Sure, Nate was worried too, worried as hell, but he also had the feeling that Eliot had a good reason for taking out his earbud and he knew that Eliot could take on most of his enemies without too much trouble.

But he made the mental note to tell Hardison to turn the monitor back on if they hadn't heard from Eliot in five minutes and to send Parker in, because out of the team she would be the one most able to help the Hitter if it was necessary. The whole team hated waiting in the van, but if they went into the office building of their mark now, they would destroy the whole con and they didn't have the piece of jewelery their client wanted back so much yet.

Nate sighed and his hands were clenched so tight, that his nails dug painfully into his skin. He had the uttermost faith in the retrieval specialist, but still, he had the right to worry when his lover was in distress. Their relationship was still new and both were figuring things out, keeping it a secret from the team, but that didn't make things easier. And the feeling in his gut that something bad was going to happen, didn't help things.

_/Please be okay, El/_ Nate thought, swallowing harshly, hoping that Eliot would make it out in one piece, because something about this job had been off from the very beginning, something else than Eliot's "I hate LA" mantra...

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><p>.<p>

Eliot had barely time to duck out of the way while he took out his earbud. One of the goons that had attacked him as soon as he had entered the building, swung at him. The Hitter blocked the hand and threw the man against the wall, but he didn't stay down very long, his face twisted in rage, a pair of fangs showing. That was the reason he had wanted the team to turn off the video feed and he had taken out the earbud. They really didn't need to see Eliot fight like this and they sure as hell didn't need to see him fighting vampires.

"Damn it," he muttered under his breath. Eliot couldn't believe he had been attacked by fucking vampires. He hadn't encountered one in the past eight years... ever since he had left LA and his old life behind. It was just his luck that he had ran straight into vampires when they were starting their newest con.

Eliot had been sent into the firm first, his cover story was to test the security personal and then Nate and Sophie would come in as future investors, who had sent Eliot. And it had sounded like a decent plan and should have been easy enough, no matter that their mark was rumored to have the best security men in the whole state.

Eliot now knew why... and if he hadn't had experience at who he was dealing with, he'd probably be dead or at least captured already.

"Fucking vampires," he cursed, his eyes scanning the area for a weapon that would actually work against them. Sure, Eliot could hold his own against them for quite a while, probably longer than most humans that weren't slayers could, but he knew that sooner or later he would tire out where they wouldn't. So he needed a weapon, preferable a wooden stake, but he probably wouldn't find one. His eyes fell on a chair that stood beside a pot plant in the otherwise empty hallway they were fighting in. He ducked another swipe from one of the vampires and rolled to the side, grabbing the chair while he did so, using it to block the next strike from the second vampire, which splintered the legs, just as Eliot had planned.

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Now he had a useful weapon, all he needed to do now was getting close enough to them to actually use it. The broken rib he had sustained and the probably sprained ankle didn't exactly help. He ducked another blow and threw aside the broken chair, only keeping the leg that he wanted to use as a stake and thrusting it forward, effectively ramming it into the chest of one of the vampires. The undead turned to dust.

Eliot allowed a small smile to tug at his lips and he was relieved that his team hadn't seen this.

He didn't even want to imagine how they'd react to a man just turning to dust without warning and without any reasonable explanation. It would be hard enough to explain this to them later anyway without them asking distracting questions over the earbud about what was going. Eliot had never told them about his past, not even Nate and originally he had intended to keep it that way. But he feared that this wouldn't work anymore. He couldn't let his team, his family, into this without all the information they needed.

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His slight slip of his mind to his team had slowed him down enough that one of the vampires got too close and Eliot found himself flung against the wall. The Hitter groaned, a searing pain in his right shoulder and in his cracked rib. He was pretty sure that the shoulder was now dislocated. He tried to change the makeshift-stake into his other hand, but the vampire reacted quicker and grabbed Eliot's injured arm, pulling it upwards, making Eliot scream in pain. The vampire wrenched the wooden stake out of Eliot's hand and threw it aside. The next thing Eliot felt was a burning pain in his neck when the vampire sank his fangs into his neck.

Eliot tried to push the man away, but with the handicap of a dislocated shoulder, he was no match for the supernatural being and he quickly felt his strength leave him, cursing himself for not just running as soon as he had realized they were vampires.

Suddenly and with another bout of pain for Eliot, the vampire was yanked away from him and before he could react he was turned to dust, followed by the third and last vampire.

Eliot's vision was hazy and he didn't really realize what was going on, all he saw was a broad-shouldered man in a black leather coat, who had his back turned to him. Something was vaguely familiar about that guy, but only when the man turned around and faced him, probably to ask if Eliot was okay and to help him get out of here, Eliot's eyes widened in recognition.

And the last thing he heard before he blacked out from the pain and the blood loss from where the vampire had fed from him, was a surprised, deep, husky voice full of surprise.

"Lindsey?"

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><p>.<p>

"Well, so far so good. Just as Wesley has said"

Angel, the vampire with a soul, walked through the corridors of Ryder Enterprises and nobody really paid attention to him. So the little spell Wesley and Fred had put over him really worked and he was just a face in the crowd. So all he had to do was walk into Logan Ryder's office, knock the man out, open the safe and get the necklace before the unsuspecting businessman unleashed a horde of demons over the city by accident. Suddenly Angel heard a scream and his senses were on high alert. When he rounded the next corner, Angel suddenly realized that Logan Ryder probably wasn't as unsuspecting of the necklace's power than they had thought, because there was fight going on, two vampires against one human and normal businessmen didn't employ vampires as security, and their uniforms identified them as Ryder's security men. Angel had no idea who the man was, because he really couldn't see much, since the two vampires were blocking his view, and he also had no idea why the security men were attacking him, but Angel wasn't about to let a human get killed in front of him without doing anything.

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So the vampire charged forward, pulling out a wooden stake as he ran and yanked the vampire away from the human, stopping him from drinking too much blood and killing the poor guy. With a practiced move he dusted the vampire and the last vampire, who charged him, really didn't pose too much of a problem either and was dusted only seconds later.

Angel hadn't even broken a sweat and with a satisfied grin he turned around to see how bad off the guy the vampires had attacked really was. He was about to say something, when suddenly speech seemed to totally elude him when he took in the features... the familiar features he hadn't seen in years... he was staring directly into the face that he could never forget...

"Lindsey," he whispered, seeing in the other man's eyes that he had recognized Angel too and the vampire was about to ask about a million questions, but Lindsey suddenly closed his eyes and slumped to the side, having lost consciousness.

"Damn," Angel cursed when he realized how badly Lindsey seemed to be injured. And without thinking too much about it, he gently picked the younger man up and cradled him against his chest, quickly sprinting down the corridor the way he had come and out the backdoor. He didn't even think about the necklace right now, well, okay, he did think of it, but he didn't think that one day more or less would make a difference since the necklace would only have its full power in three days when certain stars were in the right constellation.

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Angel left the building and hurried to his car, glad that the streetlights didn't offer much light in the darkness of the night, so that he wouldn't be spotted immediately. Angel gently laid Lindsey on the backseat, wondering what the former lawyer had gotten into this time. He would take him back to Angel Investigation where Fred would take care of him. And then he would ask Lindsey a few questions, especially why he was back in LA and what he was doing at Ryder Enterprises and after that maybe he could ask Lindsey a few more personal questions, especially what he had done with his life in the past eight years...

Angel shook his head while he slid behind the wheel of his car and started it, driving away from Ryder Enterprises and past a black van where four people were anxiously waiting for a word from Eliot Spencer...

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to be continued, if you're interested *hopeful smile*

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So, how bad was it? Comments for this would, as I said before, be most appreciated *puppy dog eyes*

And if you haven't, please read the A/N at the beginning, which explains a little about the storyline of this AU...


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Hey everybody, wow, I never would have thought that you would like this little story idea so much *smiles happily* but I'm really, really happy that you like it, because it is so much fun to write it. And I really hope you will like the second chapter as much as you like the first *hopeful smile*

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Comments for this chapter would of course be most appreciated *smiles*

And please keep in mind that English is not my native language...

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And thank you to **Jesco123, SivanShemesh, SlytherinQueen20, ****TerrorThatLurksInYerBathtub X3, McCoy's Secret Lover, asherxslasher, msdarque, saides and cresdin** for all your kind comments, they are really appreciated *smiles*

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**Warnings:** This is sort of an AU and it has SLASH (Nate/Eliot as a current pairing and a love triangle with Angel) just so you're warned

.

**Disclaimer: **None of the Leverage and Angel characters belong to me, I just borrowed them for this little story and I intend to give them back sometime... this is just for fun and not for money...

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

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><p>.<p>

"Shh, he's waking up."

"I better get Angel."

The voices were the first thing Eliot heard when he slowly woke up and even though his head throbbed they were vaguely familiar, even though Eliot couldn't quite place them. The Hitter slowly opened one eye, careful not to alert whoever was with him that he was fully awake. And then he tried to remember where he was and what had happened.

And suddenly he remembered... the vampires had attacked him at Ryder Industries and Angel had come to his aid.

_/Great, just what I need./_ Eliot thought and wondered what exactly had happened after he had passed out. One thing was for sure, he wasn't at Ryder Industries anymore, because he was lying on something soft, probably a couch.

_/Damn, Nate and the team have no idea what happened./ _was Eliot's next conscious thought and his eyes snapped open. He had no idea how long he had been out and he was pretty sure that the team was already looking for him and the last thing Eliot needed was for the team to meet Angel and the gang.

.

Eliot tried to sit up and get the hell out of here, but a burning pain in his neck, ankle and ribcage stopped him and the wave of nausea that hit him as soon as he moved, didn't help matters either.

"Hey, keep lying down, you have lost a lot of blood and you need your rest, Lindsey," a soft voice said and a small but strong hand gently pushed him back down onto the couch and Eliot had to admit he was too exhausted to resist much.

_/Damn vampire sure got me good./_ he mused, before he turned his head slowly to see who had talked to him. It took him a moment to put together the name and the face, but then it clicked.

Fred... still as beautiful and innocent as ever, even though she looked a little older and even more attractive.

Eliot couldn't help a small smile tug on his lips, because he should have known that it was Fred who was going to play nurse for him. Eliot still didn't know why Angel had even bothered to rescue him. Sure, they had parted on good terms after a long, and to Eliot still strange, talk before he had left LA for good all those years ago, but it was still a little awkward that the master vampire had rescued him.

"Lindsey, you should drink a little water. It will help with the nausea," Fred offered and a glass with water appeared in Eliot's line of sight and at first he didn't even react, because it was just too strange to be called Lindsey again. He had left that name behind in LA and nobody had called him that in eight years.

At first Eliot was a little hesitant to accept the water, but then he knew that Angel had no reason to poison it. If he had wanted Lindsey out of the way, he could just have left him at Ryder's and as injured as Eliot unfortunately was, Angel knew that the former lawyer was no match for him, especially in his own home. And Eliot really was a little thirsty, so he extended his hand and took the offered glass.

"Thanks," he told Fred and then slowly sat up a little to be better able to drink the water. Fred looked a little surprised that the man she knew as Lindsey MacDonald had actually apologized to her and Eliot wondered how he should go about this situation.

.

Should he pretend that he still was Lindsey or should he tell Angel who he was now?

Maybe he should wait and see how Angel reacted to him, because the last thing he needed was for the master vampire with a soul to find out about his team and if it was possible, Eliot would have liked for his team to never meet the past he had here in LA.

And then he suddenly remembered the fact, that the team probably had no idea what had happened and where Eliot had gone, because the Hitter was sure that Nate and the rest had by now realized that he had been missing and they sure as hell would be looking for him. Eliot sighed a little, because he was pretty sure that Hardison would be able to track him and that they would show up here soon.

So Eliot knew that he needed to get out of here, call the team and make up some lie about what had happened. With his mind made up about this, Eliot sat up and ignored the wave of nausea that washed through him. Carefully he swung his legs down from the couch and grimaced in pain when his ankle came in contact with the ground.

"Hey, I told you to keep lying down, Lindsey," Fred protested, but Eliot ignored her protests for now and to stop her from stopping him, he shoved the empty glass into her hands.

"Thank you for patching me up, but I gotta go now," he told the woman, trying to look as friendly as possible, before he hoisted himself to his feet. That was a big mistake as it turned out, because his vision swam and he fell back onto the couch.

_/Damn, I forgot how weak being drunken from by a vampire makes you/_ he thought a little frustrated, but before he could do or say more, he was suddenly attacked by a flash of green and and enveloped into a hug. At first he stiffened until he realized who it was that was hugging him.

"Hey Lorne," he greeted, relaxing into the embrace, ignoring the pain from his ribs. Eliot had always liked the demon and even though Eliot would never admit it out loud to anyone, had become sort of a father figure when Eliot was still Lindsey and working for Wolfram and Hart.

Lorne separated a little, but kept his hands on Eliot's shoulders, looking him up and down.

"Look at you, sugar, all grown up and so handsome, well except the bruises those nasty vampires gave you," Lorne said almost giddily and Eliot couldn't help but blush and laugh a little. Lorne had always had that effect on him, again something he'd never admit out loud. But he really hadn't expected that Lorne would be so happy to see him again, because yeah, they had been friends, but if he had been working with Angel for years then he shouldn't have such a high opinion of Lindsey. Then again, Lorne had never been one to judge people by their actions and he probably knew Eliot's feelings better than the Hitter himself.

.

But seeing Lorne again didn't stop Eliot from wanting to get out of here to stop his team from barging into the Hyperion, because that Angel Investigation still resided there, that Eliot had discovered quite quickly after waking up and taking a look around.

"I'll be okay in a few days, Lorne, I've had worse," Eliot stated, because it was true. He had had worse injuries and still had the scars to proof it, even though Angel and co didn't need to know that, not that Angel would believe him anyway. The vampire had always thought that Lindsey was some spoiled brat that had had handed everything to him on a silver platter and when Eliot, or better still Lindsey back then, had tried to tell him, the vampire hadn't even listened. And Eliot should hate Angel, but he just couldn't. There were still so many things left unsaid between the two and Eliot still remembered the ambiguous feelings he had had towards the vampire and he also still remembered the big crush he had had on Angel, which was another thing he would take with him to the grave and he was over that anyway by now.

He now had Nate and that relationship was going pretty good as far as Eliot was concerned.

_/Why the hell am I thinking about my relationships when all I need to do, is get out of here, before Angel comes in to stop me./_ he mused, because Fred wouldn't be able to stop him, no matter how injured he was and Eliot was pretty sure that Lorne would let him go if he asked, but Angel... well that was a whole different story...

So he squared his shoulders and pushed Lorne's hands from his shoulders, glad that he now could stand on his own without feeling like vomiting.

"It was nice seeing you again, Lorne, and thanks again for patching me up, Fred," he said and gestured to the bandage Fred had put over the bite wound on his neck. "... but I really gotta go now."

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He turned and was about to walk away when he nearly crashed into a solid chest clad in a black shirt.

"You're not going anywhere, Lindsey," Angel told him, his voice firm. Eliot couldn't suppress a groan and looked at Angel with an annoyed expression on his face.

"Look Angel, whatever you have been looking for at Ryder's, I promise I'll stay out of your way," Eliot told him, hoping to just get out of here before the team arrived and things would get a lot more complicated.

"That's not why you're not going anywhere, Lindsey. You're injured and need to recover a little at first," Angel started and Eliot couldn't help but snort.

"I never knew you cared that much about me." The sarcasm was more than evident in his voice and he made to walk around Angel towards the door, but the vampire was having none of that. He grabbed Eliot's arm and pulled him back.

"You stay here until you've recovered and until you've answered all my questions to my satisfaction," the vampire snarled and that made much more sense to Eliot. Of course he had an ulterior motive, because Angel really didn't care that Eliot was injured, he just wanted information from him. And for some reason that angered Eliot and he yanked his arm free from Angel's grip, ignoring the pain from his arm. He wasn't the weak lawyer anymore that Angel knew and Eliot wanted the vampire to realize that.

So he crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared at Angel.

"You can't make me stay here, Angel. And I can take care of myself," he spat, his anger rising when Angel only smirked at him. He had always hated that smirk, no matter if it looked dead sexy.

_/Focus, Eliot./_ the Hitter cursed himself and he wondered where that thought had come from and why he was thinking it now. And Angel's behavior made him lose control real fast and the vampire's next words really didn't help.

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"Come on, Lindsey, you could never beat me and now you're injured, so you don't stand a chance. So why don't you make it easy on yourself and just stay on the couch and enjoy my hospitality, because I really don't want to hurt you."

Angel hadn't even meant to say this, but seeing Lindsey again after all those years had the vampire's feelings on a roller-coaster and Angel hated that. In addition to that, he really didn't want to hurt the former lawyer, actually, he had never really wanted to hurt him, even when he had been working for Wolfram & Hart. And somehow he really didn't want Lindsey to leave his sight again, because seeing the younger man again, had awoken a strange feeling inside him, a feeling he hadn't felt in a long time and a feeling he really couldn't quite place yet.

Angel really wasn't prepared for Eliot to charge at him with an angry scream, so he wasn't able to dodge the attack and fell to the ground with a grunt.

.

Eliot smirked and looked down at Angel, satisfied that he had shown Angel that he shouldn't underestimate him again, even though he was well aware, that Angel could probably still take him down in a fair fight due to his superhuman strength, no matter if he was injured or not.

"And now I'm leaving," he said, smiling at Lorne and Fred again, who looked a little shocked, but didn't make a move to stop him.

He was nearly out the door, despite limping heavily, when suddenly someone attacked him from behind and it didn't take a genius to figure out that it was Angel.

The Hitter grunted when he was shoved against the wall face first and then turned around. Another hiss of pain escaped him, when his back made contact with the wall.

Angel stood directly in front of him, grabbing Eliot's upper arms with his hands, making sure that the younger man couldn't escape.

"I said you're staying here, so you're staying here," Angel snarled, his face only inches away from Eliot's and the Hitter really didn't know what to do now. His ribs hurt, the bite on his neck throbbed and his ankle made it hard to stand up straight too and he was pretty sure that he would have fallen if Angel hadn't had him pinned against the wall.

He was about to give the vampire an answer to his words, when suddenly he heard voices coming closer, voices he recognized all too well and Eliot closed his eyes in exhaustion and something akin to exasperation. Why did Hardison have to be such a good Hacker? Couldn't he have taken about half an hour more? Then he would have been able to leave without his past and his present meeting each other.

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And before Eliot could shove Angel away from him, six people burst into the room, Cordelia still talking: "But I told you there's no Eliot here..."

Eliot turned his head towards the voices and saw Nate and the rest of the team crowded in the doorway, looking downright murderous when they saw that Angel had pinned Eliot against the wall and was obviously hurting him.

"I think there was no Eliot here?" Hardison said, looking smug, because he had been right and had located the Hitter.

Parker looked at Cordelia and Eliot knew that glint in her eyes and he was pretty sure that Angel's friend was missing most of her valuable possessions in her pockets by now.

Nate however had his gaze fixed on Angel and Eliot and Eliot saw the unspoken question in his eyes and he could also see the worry there, especially when he saw the bandage on his neck. The Hitter attempted a small smile, even though he actually felt like banging his head against the wall until he blacked out and all this turned out to be a horrible nightmare and nothing more.

"But there is no Eliot here," Cordelia insisted, not really sure what was going on here. Angel, who still had a death grip on Eliot's arms, turned to the intruders and snarled: "This is a private meeting, so I kindly ask you to leave my office."

Eliot couldn't help but chuckle at that, because he knew that his team sure as hell wouldn't leave. And Nate's next words confirmed that.

"Not without Eliot and I'd appreciate it, if you'd get your hands off of him."

Angel stared at Nate as if he had gone crazy.

"I have no idea who this Eliot is you're talking about, but this man here is Lindsey MacDonald and we have a few things to talk about," he said

The words had the desired effect and everybody stared at Eliot, waiting for an answer. The Hitter suddenly felt dizzy again, all the stress and his injuries catching up with him again. And once again he felt his vision black out, knowing that unconsciousness was only a few seconds away and all he managed to say, before he slumped against Angel was: "Actually I'm Eliot and Lindsey..."

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to be continued...

Well, here it is, the second chapter and I really hope it wasn't too confusing and too bad... reviews would of course be most appreciated *smiles*


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Hey everybody, here comes a new chapter *smiles* I finished this sooner than I had thought with my mother having knee surgery, but today I had one sentence for this chapter in mind and so this came out of it... and an idea for an Angel/Lindsey fanfic too, I just need to type it down when I find the time, which might be a while with my mom coming home and needing my aid, because she won't be able to walk...

I really hope you like it, because it turned out entirely different than I actually wanted *smiles*

Comments are of course appreciated, as always *puppy dog eyes*

.

Thank you to **SlytherinQueen020, msdarque, ****TerrorThatLurksInYerBathtub X3, SivanShemesh, kimiko, Eluvcuddles, Jesco123, angelbun86, whovian42 and fro-chan **for all your kind comments *hugs you all* I really appreciate theme *smiles*

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**Warnings:** This is sort of an AU and it has SLASH (Nate/Eliot as a current pairing and a love triangle with Angel) just so you're warned

.

**Disclaimer:** None of the Leverage and Angel characters belong to me, I just borrowed them for this little story and I intend to give them back sometime... this is just for fun and not for money...

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* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

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><p>.<p>

Eliot knew that he couldn't have blacked out for too long, because when he finally woke again, he was cradled against a broad chest bridal style and that could only mean that he was still in Angel's arms and the master vampire wouldn't carry him longer than was absolutely necessary.

And Nate and Angel were still arguing over who the hell Lindsey and Eliot were, both not ready to just give in. Nate accused Angel of kidnapping Eliot and Angel accused Nathan of sticking his nose into things he had no business sticking it in... so all in all everything was going as bad as the Hitter had feared it would.

Eliot could also hear Hardison mumble: "There's no trace of a Lindsey MacDonald..."  
>And Eliot couldn't help but feel a little smug about that, because when even Hardison couldn't find traces of his former identity, then he had done a good job all those years ago.<p>

"You do know that you can't find the answer to every question on the internet, don't you, Hardison?" Eliot grumbled, hating how tired his voice sounded. He just wanted to alert everybody that he was awake. And his words had the desired effect and he saw all eyes turn to him again.

.

Eliot sighed a little and then he looked up at Angel.

"As much as I appreciate it, that you haven't let my face get reacquainted with your office floor, I'd appreciate it even more if you'd put me down. I'm not your usual damsel in distress," he growled, trying to sound threatening. Then Eliot turned his head towards Nate to find out how he felt about this whole situation.

Eliot had long ago realized that his lover had a jealous streak a mile wide and seeing him in Angel's arms sure as hell wouldn't do anything to keep that side at bay. And the last thing he wanted was a fight between Angel and Nate, because Eliot knew that his lover really didn't have a chance in a fight.

Angel stared at Eliot, who had started struggling a little and without another word, the vampire walked over to the couch and almost gently put Eliot down on it.

"You keep lying down, because next time I'm not going to catch you," Angel grumbled, but Eliot was surprised to hear concern in the other man's voice. But since lying down sounded like a very good idea, because that was about the only position where nothing hurt and where he didn't feel like throwing up, he just stayed put, but only after one last glare at Angel.

.

Then he looked at Nate, Sophie, Parker and Hardison again. The Hacker was just turning off his laptop and put it in the bag he was carrying. Parker was playing with something in her hands, Sophie had a look of concentration on her face and Nate... well, Nate looked like he couldn't decide if he was relieved, jealous, worried or angry.

Cordelia, Fred, Gunn and Angel were standing behind the couch now, which was sort of a barrier between Eliot's past and present and they were looking at the team in a mixture of interest and distrust, especially Angel. Lorne probably had left the room as soon as they had Cordelia earlier and Eliot was glad for that, because he didn't need his team to be confronted with a demon so soon, no matter if it was Lorne or not.

There was absolute silence in the room and all eyes were now on Eliot and the Hitter sighed deeply. He really had no idea what he should say or do now.

He didn't think that a "team – former pain in the ass, former pain in the ass – team" would go over well with anybody, especially with the way Nate and Angel were glaring at each other, but the Hitter knew he had to say something soon or things would get real ugly.

.

"I guess I owe you all an explanation?" Eliot started, for a second hoping that they'd just say no, but that wasn't happening.

"You guess? Hell yeah, you owe us an explanation for all this shit," Hardison demanded, still frustrated that he hadn't found anything on a Lindsey MacDonald. That really hurt his Hacker pride.

"Hardison! Stop it," Nate's voice was stern and he finally moved to walk over to the couch and crouched down beside it. Then he put a hand on Eliot's arm.

"How are you, Eliot?" he questioned softly and this time Nathan wasn't even trying to hide his concern. Eliot smiled a little.

"I'll be okay, Nate. I just need to rest a little. You know that I've had way worse injuries than this," he assured, because he hated to see the fear in Nate's eyes. He knew how much his lover worried for him whenever he was in potential danger, which, to be honest, was an every day occurrence for a Hitter. He hoped that Nate would believe his words, because Eliot was well aware that he'd heal if he just had one or two days rest and wouldn't need to fight any hostile vampires in the near future.

And Nathan seemed to believe him, because the lines of worry on his forehead ceased a little and he squeezed Eliot's arm.

"Good," was all he said and then he righted himself again, so that he was eye to eye with Angel and Eliot couldn't help but smile proudly that Nate didn't seem intimidated by Angel in the least. Of course Nathan didn't know what Angel was yet, but still, the other man was an intimidating person, even if he wasn't showing his vampire side.

.

"And now you could explain to me why you've kidnapped Eliot," Nate demanded and Eliot knew that he was doing this to give the Hitter the time to sort out his thoughts before he had to explain everything and Eliot was grateful for it. But he also knew that this question from Nate would only lead to more uncomfortable questions.

But he knew it couldn't be helped and he also knew that it was time to come clean about his past to Nate and the rest of the team. They deserved the truth and then all Eliot could do was hope for the best.

Eliot turned one eye to Angel to see his reaction to Nate's question. Cordelia, Gunn and Fred were standing by the vampire's side and the three thought it was better to stay out of this conversation for now as did Parker, Sophie and Hardison and Eliot was glad for that, because that would make things a little easier, even if it wasn't much.

.

Angel crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"I haven't kidnapped Eliot. I just rescued Lindsey from being killed," he gave back, obviously still not convinced that Eliot and Lindsey were one and the same person, even though Eliot had said so before he had blacked out a second time. But Eliot was sure that he wouldn't get out of this until he had answered every last question the vampire had.

Nate meanwhile just groaned, because that had been the answer Angel had given him every time he had asked this.

"I'm sick and tired of this game, Mr. Angel. All we want is take Eliot home and we'll be out of your way." Nathan looked the vampire directly in the eye, something that seemed to impress Angel, because his tense stance loosened a little.

"Mr. Ford, I assure you, that I'm not playing games. This man is Lindsey MacDonald."

Angel looked like he wanted to say more, but then he stopped himself and looked at Eliot, an unreadable expression on his face.

"But maybe you can finally shed some light on the whole situation, Lindsey, now that you don't faint like a damsel in distress every five seconds," the vampire smirked. Eliot only growled.

"I would have done so earlier, if you hadn't smashed me into a wall, Angel," he gave back, even though it was partly a lie, because he really hadn't wanted to talk about it, but he would have been forced if he hadn't blacked out when he had.

Angel only raised an eyebrow and Eliot resisted the childish urge to stick his tongue out at the vampire. Instead he concentrated on the task at hand.

.

"But before I talk, Parker, please give Cordelia her purse and her necklace back," he said, turning his head to the blonde thief, because focusing on this helped him to calm himself some more.

Parker looked at him, a pout forming on her lips and she was about to say something, but Eliot gave her one of the looks he only reserved for the petite blonde.

"Fine," Parker grumbled and walked over to Cordelia to give the purse and the necklace back to the stunned woman, who hadn't even missed it.

"Thanks," she stammered and pulled the purse from Parker's hands with a little force. Eliot chuckled a little at the scene and now he finally had his emotions under control so that he could tell them a little about his past.

"I guess I'll give you a short summary of the story, because if I tell the long one, we'll all be old and gray, well, some of us at least," he joked, looking pointedly at Angel, who had an expression between a glare and a smile on his face, which surprised Eliot a little.

"We'd appreciate that, especially me, because you know that I've listened to a lot of long and boring speeches in my life," the vampire replied and Nate had the feeling that he was missing the joke here and that unnerved him a little. He hated the thought of his lover and that good looking man having a past that might be longer than the one he had with Eliot.

.

The Hitter sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Okay, well, I was once Lindsey MacDonald, but when I left LA eight years ago, I knew that Lindsey MacDonald had to die, because the Senior Partners would have never left me alone," he explained, sending another meaningful look towards Angel and the vampire gave a small nod and once again looked like he wanted to say something, but stopped himself from doing so. Instead he only crossed his arms in front of his chest again.

"So I became Eliot Spencer, let my hair grow and did a lot of stuff, some I'm proud of, some I'm not so proud of," Eliot continued, before he looked to Nate and his current team.

"And then Dubenich hired me for the job and I joined you guys, vowing to never come back to LA. But I guess the past always catches up with you," he finished, congratulating himself for telling everything without actually telling anything more than the team and Angel might have guessed.

Seeing Angel's frustrated and Nate's exasperated expression, Eliot knew that he had succeeded in what he had wanted to do, but unfortunately for him, both Nate and Angel were stubborn people and weren't ready to let him get away with it.

"Then why did you come back?" Gunn questioned, giving Eliot a nasty look. Sure, Angel and Eliot had sort of made their peace with each other and Fred and Cordelia had never really hated Lindsey, but Gunn and Lindsey had never really gotten along.

But what surprised Eliot even more than Gunn's hostile attitude, was the snarl Angel directed at his friend.

.

"Well, we came here, because we have taken a case here in LA and even though I didn't want to come, I couldn't leave my team alone in this demonic city," Eliot explained, emphasizing the demonic, which only made sense to Angel and his gang.

"And as it turned out, I was right. And the rest was pure accident. I really didn't mean to run into you," Eliot finished, looking pointedly at Angel this time.

And the vampire tilted his head a little to the side.

"And what exactly were you doing at Ryder's?" he asked, this time not specifically Eliot, but Nate and the rest of his crew too.

"We could ask you the same question. You don't look like you work for Ryder," Nate shot back, his arms now crossed in front of his chest, a defiant look in his eyes.

Eliot had quickly realized that they had reached a dead end, because neither Angel nor Nate would reveal anything more. And Eliot was glad that Angel didn't say more, because Nate, Parker, Sophie and Hardison still didn't know about vampires and demons and maybe he could keep it that way, if he did this right.

So he turned his head towards the master vampire.

"Can I talk to you alone for a minute, Angel?" he questioned, attempting to stand up from the couch. Nate was by his side immediately, looking at his lover in concern. Eliot only smiled at him and tried to reassure him that he was okay to stand as long as nobody tried to shove him into a wall.

Angel had watched the exchange between Nathan and Eliot with interest and his eyes darkened for a moment.

He then nodded to Eliot's request.

"Let's go into my office, Lindsey, so your friends can see that I'm not about to kill you, but we can still have a private talk," Angel told him, purposely stretching Eliot's old name to rile Nathan up. And it worked, because Nate made a step towards the vampire and might have done something rash if Eliot hadn't caught his arm.

"It's okay, Nate," he soothed, telling his lover with his eyes that he knew what he was doing and then fully rose from the couch, staggering a little, but only for a brief moment."

.

And then he started to walk towards Angel's private office, limping a little, but when Angel came to his aid, he shrugged the arm off.

"I can walk on my own," he spat and strode, well as well as he was able to, into Angel's office, the vampire following close behind. Angel closed and quietly locked the door behind him, before he turned his attention to Eliot, who had sat down in one of the leather armchairs in the room. That told Angel that the younger man didn't feel all too well but didn't want to show too much weakness.

But right now Angel was interested in something else entirely, because ever since he had seen Lindsey, or Eliot as he called himself now, there had been this feeling growing inside him and it got harder and harder to control, even though Angel wasn't entirely sure what the feeling was.

So he casually walked over to the chair Eliot was sitting in and asked: "I see you've found a new lover after Darla."

Angel was surprised how hostile his voice sounded and Eliot reacted accordingly.

"Don't mention Darla," he snarled and then his face became expressionless again.

"I don't know what you're talking about. And even if I did, I don't think that it's any of your business who I sleep with," Eliot gave back, ignoring the painful pang he had felt, when Angel had said Darla's name.

But what he really wasn't prepared for, was Angel's reaction. The vampire was suddenly directly in front of him in a half crouch, both arms on either side of Eliot on the armrests, his face only inches away from Eliots, the vampire now out.

And Eliot flinched against his will and the bite on his neck throbbed when he remembered how it felt to be bitten by a vampire.

"What... are you... doing?" he whispered, hating how insecure his voice sounded, but he knew when to be afraid of Angel and right now was one of those moments.

But again Eliot had not expected what Eliot did next, because Angel's face came closer and closer and he snarled: "It matters to me, because you're mine."

And with that he roughly claimed Eliot's lips in a bruising kiss...

.

to be continued...


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Hello my dear readers, here comes a new chapter and I really, really hope you like it *smiles hopefully* I had fun writing it so I really hope you have as much fun reading it *sheepish smile*

And I'm still overwhelmed how much you seem to like the story *dances around happily* I hope you still will after this chapter... *g* And I so suck at writing long, hot kisses, so I better don't even try...

I'm also a little amused that some of you loved the line "team- former pain in the ass, former pain in the ass- team" because that actually was the first thing that came to my mind for the last chapter and made me write it *smiles*

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Of course thank you so much to **Jesco123, McCoy's Secret Lover, SlytherinQueen020, msdarque, Eluvcuddles, Karone Evertree** (I don't mind the rant at all *g* and I'll try to keep Eliot as in character as possible *smiles*), **TerrorThatLurksInYerBathtub X3, whovian42, love kane, fro-chan, ThexBrokenxMirror, shinigami sakura2000 and WalkingInDarkness737** for all your kind comments *hugs you all* they really mean a lot to me *hugs you all again*

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**Warnings:** This is sort of an AU and it has SLASH (Nate/Eliot as a current pairing and a love triangle with Angel) just so you're warned

.

**Disclaimer:** None of the Leverage and Angel characters belong to me, I just borrowed them for this little story and I intend to give them back sometime... this is just for fun and not for money...

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><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

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><p>.<p>

The kiss was as unexpected as it was passionate and bruising and for a moment Eliot felt himself responding to the kiss, because, damn, that vampire knew how to kiss. Okay, he had about four hundred years more experience than Eliot, but still. And, as hard as it was to admit for the hitter, there was this tiny part of Lindsey that had still survived, buried deeply away, that had been longing for that kiss, ever since the day he had first met Angel, when the vampire had come into the conference room and thrown Lindsey's client out of the window. They had then shared that intense look, that he still didn't know what it meant and if Eliot hadn't had an enormous self-control, then he would have been lost right then and there.

But like this he had been able to bury that desire deep within him, but right now, with him injured and the stress of the past hours catching up with him, his self-control was a little weak and that part had come to the surface to enjoy the kiss.

But when Eliot felt Angel's hand tangle itself into his hair, his brain kicked in again and reminded him, who exactly it was that was kissing him and what kind of situation he found himself in right now.

.

And of course there was that thought about Nate and the last thing Eliot wanted, was to hurt his lover, especially after everything Nathan had been through and about what they had already been through together...

In addition to that, Eliot hated when people got all possessive over him, especially someone like Angel. The vampire had had enough chances to tell Eliot how he felt, but this situation right now was just too bizarre. It was almost like Angel was annoyed that someone else was now playing with his favorite toy. Only that Eliot wasn't a toy, he was a human being and he was done being toyed around with by the souled vampire.

So he used all the strength he could find in his still aching body and pushed Angel away and before the vampire could react, pulled his arm back, punching Angel so hard in the nose that the vampire staggered a little. Eliot smirked and with one swift movement, he kicked Angel's legs out from under him, making sure that the other hit the ground hard, just so the vampire knew that he wasn't the weak lawyer, who hid behind his books and his bosses anymore, but that he was more than capable taking care of himself.

.  
>With satisfaction he noticed that Angel seemed to be in real pain and he was looking at Eliot with an expression that was a mixture of shock, anger and respect.<p>

"Don't ever do that again, Angel, or you see what else I learned in those eight years you haven't seen me," he growled, before he slumped back into his chair, feeling tired once again. He hated that the vampire at Ryder's had obviously drunk so much from him that he was still feeling the after effects. Before Angel could say something to Eliot's words, the door to the office was pushed open and Nate, Parker, Sophie, Hardison, Cordelia and Fred burst into the room, Cordelia and Fred of course quickly running to Angel, while the Leverage crew looked at Eliot with concern..

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><p>.<p>

As soon as Eliot, or Lindsey, depending on which group you asked, was out of the room, the tension rose between the Leverage team and Angel's gang. And that wasn't too surprising, because the former lawyer, now hitter, was something like the common topic between the two groups.

Nate was too fixated on what was going on in Angel's office to really care about his crew right now.

Sophie tried to stop Parker from stealing anything within reach, something the blonde thief made a habit of when she was nervous or worried. And Hardison once again had booted up his laptop to find something about Lindsey McDonald, because it was a bit hard for him to accept that Eliot had indeed managed to hide his former identity from him.

Gunn had left the room to go somewhere, grumbling under his breath the whole time, Fred and Cordelia guessed that he was going to tell Lorne and Spike what was going on here.

Cordelia was keeping an eye on Parker, because she didn't want her necklace and purse going missing again.

And Fred... Fred was the one who finally broke the tension a little. She smiled at Nate, Sophie, Parker and Hardison and asked: "Do you maybe want something to drink while we wait?"

They always served their clients drinks when they needed them, so why not Lindsey's friends?

.

But before she could get an answer, Nathan Ford's face twisted in rage and he only bellowed a "Parker".

The blonde thief was startled from letting a shiny looking letter opener with a few small rubies on the hilt, that she knew Eliot would like as a present, because it looked like a little like a dagger. And in Parker's opinion Eliot needed something nice, because he had been hurt. Right now the letter opener had to wait and she turned towards Nate.

The man's yell had alerted all of them and they all looked into the office, all not sure what they were witnessing right now, but Parker immediately knew why Nate had called for her. And without hesitation she knelt in front of the lock to pick it, which wouldn't take more than a few seconds, and that was probably why Nate had asked her to do it, even though he could do it himself, but not as fast as Parker could . And when she had done so then she would show this Angel guy that nobody messed with her hitter.

"Done," she said and pushed open the door, storming into the room, a satisfied smirk on her face when she saw that Angel was lying on the ground, holding his nose, Eliot once again slumped in the chair, looking a little shaken, but with a satisfied smirk on his face.

They had all been so busy watching Parker pick the lock that they hadn't seen what had happened in the office, but Nate couldn't help the proud smile on his face, before he stepped past Angel towards Eliot, looking him over, checking for any new injuries, pointedly ignoring the slightly swollen lips of his lover, where Angel had kissed him before.

"Are you okay?" he asked the question he had asked one too many times in the past hour, relieved when Eliot just nodded, not sure what else to say. Nate put a hand on the hitter's shoulder, because he felt the urge to touch his lover.

.

Angel, who had stood up again, his normal face back on, something Eliot was grateful for, snarled at Nathan, his anger and the humiliation that an injured Eliot had been able to overpower him.

"Get your hands off him," he demanded, taking a threatening step closer and Eliot knew the souled vampire well enough to see, that his game face would be coming out again and Eliot really didn't want his team to see all this... at least not until Eliot had figured out how to best tell his team all about vampires and demons and what else was going on in this city.

"Angel," he said, trying to sound threatening and soothing at the same time. Nate stared at the vampire in confusion.

"And who are you to tell me that?" he questioned, not ready to back down right now. This Angel guy had dared to kiss his lover and now he even demanded that Nate stopped touching him and that was something Nate wouldn't just accept.

"Nate," Eliot now turned towards his lover, hoping to calm him down, because he really didn't have much hope with Angel. And a fight between the two was the last thing Eliot wanted, because that would not only result in serious injuries for Nate, but it would also reveal too many truths about his and Nate's relationship and about Angel, and of course about his past.

.

Luckily Angel seemed to have calmed himself by now and Eliot could see the lines of tension on his forehead ease a little. But the souled vampire squared his shoulders and took a step towards Nate and Eliot and put his hand on the hitter's other shoulder. And Eliot was reminded of two alphas from any not-human species fighting for their designated mate. And the hitter really resented that situation, because Eliot had always seen himself as an alpha male too, so this was really irritating him, because he was a free human being and could choose who he wanted to be with and he growled in frustration, especially when both hands on his shoulders tightened their grips. He was about to say something, but Angel was finally answering Nate's question: "Me? I'm responsible that you have even gotten to know Lindsey."

The vampire once again deliberately stretched Eliot's former name just to piss Nate off. Eliot growled at Angel again and shook his shoulder a little to dislodge the vampire's hand, but Angel wasn't ready to let go.

Nate only chuckled humorlessly.

"And why exactly does this give you claim over Eliot?" This time it was the mastermind, who stretched the "Eliot". And that finally was enough for the hitter.

"Could you two just stop that little pissing contest?" he demanded, before he turned to Angel.

"You had your chance all those years ago and you blew it... big time," he informed, not wanting to elaborate. Angel however, only shrugged his shoulders.

"You know I'm a firm believer in second chances," he shot back and at those words Eliot only rolled his eyes.

.

"And why did you never give me one?" His voice was almost emotionless, but Nate and Angel too, who both were very attuned to the hitter could hear the hurt in there. And the vampire even had the decency to look a little guilty.

"I was young and stupid back then," he offered as a way of apology without really apologizing, and Eliot couldn't help but snort at that.

"I'll give you stupid, but young... nah... not so much," he replied and was reminded of the old times when he and Angel had been sparring verbally almost every day, which had mostly ended with Lindsey being shoved into a wall or thrown against something solid when Eliot had gotten to a sore point for the vampire.

Unfortunately this time it was Angel, who touched on a dangerous subject and dealt a low blow.

"Well, regarding your current lover, I'm not sure that not being seen as young is a bad thing," he snarled, looking pointedly at Nate and Sophie and Hardison and even Parker now looked at Nate and Eliot.

"You're sleeping together?" Hardison asked, not sure what else to say. Eliot could feel Nate stiffen beside him and he himself had no idea how to react right now. This really wasn't how he and Nate had planned to tell the team about their relationship. And Eliot desperately wished for something to happen, so that he didn't have to answer that question right away.

.

Help came from an unexpected source, because Gunn suddenly also burst into the room, followed by Lorne and now Eliot knew that he had new problems, well not exactly new problems but different ones than just seconds before. Without hesitation Lorne ran over to Eliot, completely ignoring Angel and Nate, crouched down in front of the young man and said with a shaking voice: "You need to sing for me right now, Sugar."

Eliot only stared at the demon, not sure what to say or do now and the silence in the room was almost deafening, because Cordelia, Angel, Gun and Fred were waiting how the Leverage crew would react to seeing the demon. And Sophie, Nate and Hardison were too stunned to say much. In the end it was Parker, who once again broke the silence by turning to Hardison with a frown on her face: "He looks like one of those characters from one of your computer games. Is he role-playing? I mean like this LARPing you explained to me a few days ago?"

Eliot didn't even want to know when and why exactly Hardison and Parker had talked about LARPing, and yes, Eliot knew what that was, he had a young nephew after all, and even though he would never admit it out loud, he listened to what Hardison talked about to get to know more about is younger teammate. But Parker had also unintentionally given him a good excuse to explain why Lorne looked how he looked without having to tell them about demons and vampires.

.

Lorne, however, had other plans. He turned his head and glared at Parker, an offended look on his face that Eliot had seldom seen.

"I resent that comment. I'm Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan and not a human in a silly costume, but that's not important right now," he said, sounding a little angry, before he turned back to Eliot, who raised an eyebrow at the demon, not sure if he should laugh at the offense Lorne seemed to take from Parker's words, or scream in frustration, because he had effectively ruined any chance to get out of this without revealing everything. But the concerned look in Lorne's eyes made Eliot's gut twist for a second.

"What?" he questioned and Lorne repeated: "I need you to sing for me."

Eliot shook his head vehemently.

"I don't do that anymore," he informed, trying to avoid to look at any of his team. Lorne took one of Eliot's hands in his and the hitter felt a little crowded right now with all those people so close to him, but he decided to just focus on Lorne.

"Then you need to rethink that, because I need you to sing," Lorne told him and there was an urgency in his voice that made that knot in Eliot's stomach grow even more.

"Why?" he questioned anxiously, not sure if he would like the answer. And indeed he really didn't want to hear what was said next, surprisingly by Cordelia, who pressed a hand to her forehead, looking sick all of sudden and Eliot immediately realized that she had had a vision only seconds ago.

"Because Wolfram and Hart know that you're here and they want you back..."

.

to be continued...


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Hey everybody *waves* I finally bring you a new chapter and I really, really hope you will like it, because once again it was harder to write than I expected to.

Well, since I can't put lyrics into the story, I didn't, but you can just picture any of the beautiful ballads Christian Kane has written *smiles* Now enjoy the chapter *smiles again*

.

Thank you to **McCoy's Secret Lover, SlytherinQueen020, msdarque, ****TerrorThatLurksInYerBathtub X3, love kane, whovian42, Jesco123, WalkingInDarkness737 and fro-chan** for all your kind comments *hugs you all*

.

**Warnings:** This is sort of an AU and it has SLASH (Nate/Eliot as a current pairing and a love triangle with Angel) just so you're warned

.

**Disclaimer:** None of the Leverage and Angel characters belong to me, I just borrowed them for this little story and I intend to give them back sometime... this is just for fun and not for money...

.

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><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

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><p>.<p>

"Because Wolfram and Hart know that you're here and they want you back..."

Eliot had expected to hear a lot, but certainly not that. He stared at Lorne and Cordelia open-mouthed for a moment and then he started cursing in every language he knew, which were quite a lot, because even though he could not speak all of them fluently, he had learned the curses when the soldiers, who had tried to recapture the Hitter. And Angel had to admit that he was impressed with what Lindsey had picked up in the eight years they hadn't seen each other.

Eliot had managed to calm himself a little and finished his rant with a "I knew I shouldn't have come."

It mixed with the only thing one of the Leverage team said, because Parker was just asking: "Why does Eliot have to sing for the green guy?"

Apart from that the Leverage team was still staring at Lorne in shock and for the moment the Hitter was kind of glad for it, because that would stop them from asking too many questions right now when he didn't have the patience and probably not even the time to answer. He looked at Angel.

"You don't happen to have a guitar at hand, do you?" he asked, because after Cordelia had had her vision, Eliot knew that there was no way around him singing. But he sure as hell wouldn't do it without a guitar at hand. Well, actually he knew he might have to, because how high was the possibility that the master vampire had a guitar stashed somewhere?

.

Why Angel suddenly ducked his head and had a guilty expression on his face, well, Eliot could not really tell. He just watched the vampire walk over to a cupboard, well it was more like a safe to be honest, in one corner of the room, which was secured with a huge lock and even Cordelia, Lorne, Fred and Gunn were watching with interest, because they had always been curious what was in that cupboard. Angel had always forbidden them to open it and he had even threatened them a little when they had tried to take a sneak peak.

"As a matter of fact I do," the vampire called over his shoulder while he opened the heavy metal door after he had unlocked it. Blocking the view of whatever was inside from the people in the room, he pulled out a guitar case. Locking the cupboard again, he turned around and Eliot stared at Angel and then at the guitar case in the vampire's hand. It looked vaguely familiar, okay, no it looked way too familiar. Angel walked back to Eliot and put the guitar case almost gently on Eliot's lap. The Hitter stared at it and opened the case slowly. When he spotted the guitar inside, his gut twisted for a moment, before he looked at Angel again, an expression on his face that was a mix of fury and curiosity.

.

"Seriously?" he asked, ignoring the confused looks of the team and Nate's soft "Eliot", totally focused on the master vampire.  
>"You stole my guitar?" he questioned, shaking his head a little. He couldn't believe that Angel really had had the guitar the whole time. Eliot had thought that he had lost his guitar when he had once again fled from one of Wolfram and Hart's retrieval demons if you wanted to call it that. Eliot had barely made it out alive with his truck and he had thought that he'd maybe lost the guitar along the way somewhere, but obviously he had been wrong.<p>

Angel shrugged.

"I wouldn't call it stealing," he started, ducking his head a little when he saw the look in Eliot's eyes.

"Okay, I stole it," Angel finally admitted, ignoring his own team just like Eliot was ignoring his team for now.

Nate, Sophie, Parker and Hardison looked like they wanted to ask about a million questions, probably especially about Lorne and what the hell was going on here, but again Eliot decided that this could wait for now. If Wolfram and Hart was out for his blood, or whatever they wanted from him, then he needed to find out so that he could prepare and not endanger Nate and the others unnecessarily.

.

Eliot shook his head a little and concentrated on Angel again.

"Why on earth did you steal my guitar?" he questioned, not really sure if he wanted an answer, but it was just such a strange situation and if it hadn't been so serious, Eliot might probably have laughed out loud at Angel's expression, because that was closest to embarrassed he had ever seen the master vampire.

And it was more than obvious that Angel didn't want to answer Eliot's question, so he only shrugged his shoulders again and then almost demanded: "And now sing that we can get this over with."

Eliot was about to give a sarcastic answer, when he became aware that Angel actually sounded concerned. But Eliot also knew that commenting on that now, would only lead to another verbal sparring match between them and so Eliot just decided to shut up now. He took the guitar out of the case and put the case on the floor.

"I'd rather do that without an audience, Lorne," he murmured and looked at the demon pleadingly, but the demon just shrugged a little helplessly.

"I don't think you have much of a choice, sugar," he said, a small smile on his face, because the demon was pretty sure that Eliot's team was going nowhere and Angel sure as hell wouldn't either, because Lorne had had his suspicions about the vampire's feelings for the former lawyer and the stolen guitar confirmed those suspicions. And Lorne knew that this was going to be trouble, especially when this Nate Ford and his sugar were lovers. Angel didn't do jealousy well, not to mention that Nathan Ford seemed quite the jealous man. But Lorne didn't want to worry about that right now, because his Lindsey was more important right now.

.

Lorne cared about the young man a great deal and he had always tried to persuade him to leave Wolfram and Hart and had been more than happy when Lindsey had finally left, hoping that the young man could make a life for himself.

Seeing him again and looking so well too delighted the demon and he really wanted to protect Lindsey from Wolfram and Hart. So he needed to hear the younger man sing to see if he could find out something.

"Just pretend you're at Caritas," he said softly and Eliot snorted a little.

"Fine, I'll sing, but only as long as it takes you to see something," he finally gave in, giving the demon a pointed look. He knew that Lorne enjoyed hearing him sing, but he really didn't want to do that. Singing would open up another painful chapter from his past and Eliot had worked hard enough to push all those memories away.

"Sure, Sugar," Lorne answered with a smile and he looked almost giddy to hear his Lindsey sing again and once again, if the situation hadn't been so serious, Eliot would have found it endearing, but he just couldn't forget that he was once again face to face with Angel and that Wolfram and Hart knew he was in town.

.

Eliot eyed his guitar and then softly touched the strings, wincing when he realized how out of tune the instrument was. Well, it had probably not been played for about eight years, even though Angel seemed to have taken care of it quite well otherwise. So the Hitter busied himself with strumming and tuning the guitar, until suddenly Hardison spoke up, probably in an attempt to lighten the mood and to get a grip on the situation: "Wait, let me just get some earplugs, before Eliot starts to sing and forever damages my hearing."

Eliot didn't even bother with a reply, but he saw Nate and even Angel give the Hacker a hard glare, that made Hardison duck his head. Sophie and Parker were just looking at Eliot with curiosity, both flinching a little when Lorne looked directly at them.

"So I assume you've never heard Lindsey sing before," he said, again a slight smile on his face.

"It's Eliot," Eliot corrected automatically and finished tuning the guitar.  
>"And I told you, I don't do that anymore, too many bad memories," he said almost dismissively, but Lorne nodded in understanding. Of course he knew what the former lawyer was talking about, he had seen it all when Lindsey, now Eliot, had been on stage at Caritas and had sung his heart out.<p>

.

Eliot sighed again, sat a little straighter in the room and asked sarcastically: "Any requests?"

It was more a rhetoric question, but Lorne answered it none the less.

"It needs to be something you wrote, sugar," he said and the tone of his voice told Eliot that it wasn't a request. The Hitter sighed again, ignoring Parker's muttering "I didn't know Sparky could write songs."

"Do I have to?" he asked, hating how whiny he sounded, but it was bad enough that he had to sing, but singing one of his own songs? That was about a hundred times worse. Only Lorne and what was left of his family knew that he was writing his own songs, or better had done so when he had been young and before all of the Wolfram and Hart disaster had happened. He had rarely written anything after that time, but one song came to mind and he swallowed harshly.

Lorne put a hand on his shoulder and tried to smile reassuringly.

"I'm afraid so, sugar. I need it to be personal, so that I can see more," he said, a little relieved when Eliot nodded, knowing that he didn't have a chance. He tried to avoid looking at anybody in the room and played with the strings a little, before he finally took a last deep breath, closed his eyes and started singing softly, his deep voice almost deafening in the sudden silence of the room.

He started with the only song he had written and he could really think about that meant something to him right now. His finger's danced along the guitar strings and just now Eliot realized how much he had missed it. Sure, it wasn't the best situation to rediscover this bit of himself, but somehow it fit just right into the slow rebuilding of his heart. He continued singing softly, his voice getting surer and surer with every note he sang.

Eliot opened his eyes, looking directly at Nate, a small smile on his face while he continued singing.

.

Involuntarily Eliot's eyes drifted to Angel, who was staring at him with an expression on his face that Eliot couldn't quite place and he shook his head, looking at Lorne, hoping that the demon had enough. As soon as the demon nodded, his voice faded and he stopped playing, putting the guitar aside gently.

"Wow, that was good, Sparky," Parker praised and Eliot gave her a small smile, as well as Sophie, who clapped a little. Hardison looked at him like he'd grown a second head. Gunn, Cordelia and Fred weren't that surprised... but Eliot was more focused on Angel and Nate. The two were looking at him with such intense looks that Eliot felt his heart speed up a little and he hated himself for it. He really hated that Angel still had such an effect of him and he hated to see the tiny bit of insecurity in his lover's eyes.

.

Lorne suddenly jumped up and grabbed Angel's arm, ignoring the growl from the vampire.

"I need to talk to you," he said, pulling the vampire out of the room. Gunn and Cordelia followed immediately, Fred after a short hesitation and a small, friendly smile, left too.

As soon as team Angel was out of the room, Hardison looked at all of them, his eyes still wide.

"Okay, can we now freak out that demons are real? Or am I the only one who's freaking out here?" he questioned, looking at Nate, Sophie and Parker. That Eliot knew what was going on was obvious.

"No, you're definitely not the only one freaking out," Sophie confirmed, but Parker only shrugged.

"If Nessie is real, then why shouldn't demons be real," was all she said and Eliot had to smile at that, but he didn't say his usual "there's something wrong with you", because he was kind of glad that at least not all of them were freaking out right now, even though Eliot had to admit that Sophie, Hardison and Nate were taking it better than he had expected. Hardison only snorted and looked at Eliot.

.

"So, are you finally ready for that really long explanation, Eliot?" he demanded, crossing his arms in front of his chest and Eliot realized that it took all of his willpower to stay as calm as he was. The Hitter sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"What do you want to hear first?" he asked, knowing that he couldn't keep it a secret any longer, because his team finally deserved to know.

"Well, maybe you could start on how you've met that Angel guy." Nate's voice was hard and Eliot tried not to be hurt by his guarded tone, because he knew that Nate was just a little overwhelmed with everything that was happening and was trying not to show it, because he thought he needed to be strong for the rest of the team.

"Angel... hmm... I guess the first time I've really met him was, when he walked into our conference room and threw my client out of the window," Eliot said, remembering that clearly. He was a little worried about everything and there was this nagging uneasy feeling in the back of his head, that things couldn't end well, especially with the threat that Wolfram and Hart wanted him back.

"He threw your client out of the window?" Sophie asked, horrified, finally losing her grip on her emotions a little. Eliot nodded.

"Yeah, Angel is a little impulsive like that," he said, trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. He slumped in the chair and closed his eyes for a second, because once again his injuries caught up with him and he needed to rest a little, before he could continue his explanation.

.

But once again he didn't get to finish, because Angel suddenly burst into the room again, running directly to Eliot and pulling the Hitter to his feet.

"What the hell?" was all Eliot managed to get out, before Angel picked him up with way too much ease for Eliot to be comfortable with it.

Nate sprung forward to stop Angel from doing whatever he wanted to do, but Angel snarled and his vampire face finally showed, now that he didn't have to hide anymore and Nathan stopped dead in his tracks, staring at Angel in shock.

Eliot, who was used to Angel's game face by now, only growled at the vampire.

"I repeat, what the hell is going on?" he asked, squirming in Angel's tight hold, hating how weak he always felt compared to the souled vampire.

Angel looked directly at Eliot, his voice deep and laced with something Eliot couldn't identify and said words that sent shock waves of different emotions through Eliot's body and he felt himself reacting to it totally against his will... and they also made Eliot stiffen completely in Angel's arms.

"I won't let Wolfram and Hart harm you again, Lindsey... and if the only way to keep you safe is to make you my mate, then I'll be more than happy to do so..."

.

to be continued...

Well, here it is, the next chapter and I really hope you're still enjoying the story after it...

As mentioned before, comments would of course be appreciated *smiles*

And of course thanks for reading *hugs*


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Hey everybody, I'm really, really sorry that I haven't updated this sooner, but somehow this chapter really didn't want to be written, but I tried my best to write it and then my copy of "House of Silk" was delivered and I couldn't stop reading and now I have a new plot bunny for a new story running wild in my head, which didn't make it exactly easier to write this chapter. I just hope you will like it *smiles sheepishly* and I hope the characters are not too OOC *sheepish smile*

Also, sorry to all of you, who are reading In the Darkness and are waiting for an update... I have about three different starts for the new chapter, but I'm still undecided which plot bunny (the Mpreg one, the Moreau one, the Sterling one or the Nate one (well, Nate belongs in all of the plotlines, but hey *grins sheepishly*)) I want to follow, but I really hope I will be able to get a new chapter ready soon *smiles*

For now, enjoy the new chapter of this story and please don't hate me for it *ducks a little* and please keep in mind that English isn't my native language ^^

Comments would be most appreciated *puppy dog eyes*

.

Of course thank you to **McCoy's Secret Lover, whovian42, TerrorInYerBathtub, SlytherinQueen020, love kane, msdarque, cresdin, fro-chan, froggycomics, Jesco123 **(special thanks to you, because your message made me finally kick myself and finish this chapter *smiles* and **Abby **for all your kind comments. I appreciate your encouragement and kind words so much and they always inspire me *hugs you all*

.

**Warnings:** This is sort of an AU and it has SLASH (Nate/Eliot as a current pairing and a love triangle with Angel) just so you're warned

.

**Disclaimer:** None of the Leverage and Angel characters belong to me, I just borrowed them for this little story and I intend to give them back sometime... this is just for fun and not for money...

.

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><p><strong>Chapter 6<strong>

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><p>.<p>

"I won't let Wolfram and Hart harm you again, Lindsey... and if the only way to keep you safe is to make you my mate, then I'll be more than happy to do so..."

Eliot stared at Angel, totally lost at what to do and his shock gave Angel the advantage he needed right now. And before any of team Angel and team Leverage, let alone Eliot, who was stock still in the vampire's arms, could react, Angel was out of the room and halfway up the stairs. His grip on Eliot was tight and as much as the Hitter hated it, he knew he wasn't going anywhere until Angel released him, especially with him injured and his ribs hurting with every movement.

Well, that still didn't mean that he could let Angel know what exactly he thought of that little kidnapping attempt. He rammed his elbow into Angel's side, but the vampire barely flinched, a sure sign that whatever Lorne had said to Angel had to be bad to get the vampire so worked up over it.

"Let me down now, Angel," he snarled nonetheless, hoping to at least get an reaction out of Angel, because other than that statement that he wanted to mate with Eliot, which was terrifying enough on its own, he hadn't said anything so far. And he didn't now, so Eliot resigned himself to the fact, that he needed to wait until Angel stopped wherever he wanted to go and then he could try and escape the master vampire's death grip.

.

Something had awakened the very possessive side a master vampire had and Eliot assumed that it was something Lorne had said. And that didn't really assure the Hitter in the least. But he was still astonished to find himself the object of Angel's possessive side. He had never ever thought he'd ever be in that position. Eight years ago he might have liked it, but now... well now things had changed and Angel really shouldn't have such an impact on him. But again, pressed close to the vampire's broad chest, there was this tiny part of him coming to the forefront, that had always cared so deeply for the vampire, no matter how bad the other had treated him.

Hearing Nate's frantic calls behind them, helped Eliot to focus on the here and now and again he rammed his elbow into Angel's side. At least now the vampire winced in pain, but other than that Angel didn't seem to be bothered by the jab. That was another indicator that he was fully in vampire mode now. And Eliot knew that team Angel and team Leverage, who were all running after him and Angel, would never catch up with them before they reached wherever Angel wanted to go.

.

Eliot couldn't really see where they're going, because Angel nearly pressed Eliot's head against his chest now, so he yelped a little in surprise when he was gently dropped on something soft, since they had obviously reached their destination. The three seconds it took Eliot to realize that he was lying on a bed and that it would probably be in his best interest to get up and off the bed, were enough for Angel to handcuff Eliot to the bedpost, where a pair of handcuffs had conveniently been attached.

Then the vampire quickly slammed the door to the room closed and murmured a little spell that Eliot recognized as a security and sound-proofing spell he had often used during his times at Wolfram and Hart and he cursed quietly when he realized that now Parker's skills wouldn't help much, since she couldn't pick a lock that was laced with magic. The Hitter was aware that his situation didn't look really good right now, but he tried not to show his unease bordering on fear towards Angel. The souled vampire had at least calmed down enough so that he had his human face again and not the vampire one.

And that change helped Eliot to find his strength again. He pulled on the handcuffs.

"Okay, I really do not want to know, why you have handcuffs conveniently attached to your bed," he spat and glared at the vampire, before he continued, trying to sound threatening: "But I'd really appreciate it if you'd uncuff me now. And then you can explain to me, why exactly you've vamped out so much just now."

.

Angel only growled at him, took a step closer to the bed, stopped, shook his head and turned away from Eliot, as if he was trying to get himself under control and not do anything he might regret later.

Eliot used that to reach for the lock-picks, a present from Parker after she had stolen one of Eliot's favorite kitchen knives, he had hidden in his boots. But before he could even reach inside his boots, a deep, but yet soft voice spoke from one corner of the room.

"I'd honor sugar's wishes if I were you, Angel."

Both Eliot and Angel whirled around and looked into the far corner of the room, where, in a comfortable looking armchair, Lorne sat, watching the hitter and the vampire with an unreadable expression on his face.

Eliot stared at the demon and Angel looked from Lorne to the door and then back to Lorne.  
>"How did you get in here? The spell is meant to keep people out and as far as I know you can't walk through walls..."<p>

Angel stopped, rubbed the back of his head and asked, almost childishly: "You can't walk through walls, can you?"

Lorne chuckled a little and even Eliot, despite the situation he currently found himself in, twisted his lips into the hint of a smile.  
>"Angel-Cakes, don't be ridiculous, of course I can't walk through walls. But your spell is only designed to keep people out and since I was already here when you two arrived, too busy with each other to notice me," Lorne explained patiently and finally stood up from the chair he was sitting in, walking towards the vampire.<p>

.

Angel, now back to his usual almost-human self, sighed deeply.  
>"Let me guess, you knew I was going to react like this and do something I might regret later?" he questioned, only slightly surprised that Lorne had once again known what Angel was going to do. The Caritas-owner had a habit of getting into Angel's head and he knew what he wanted to do, sometimes even before Angel himself was aware of it.<p>

"Yes, I did," the demon confirmed and held his hand out towards Angel. "And now give me the keys to the handcuffs, so I can uncuff Lindsey and then we can all sit down and talk about why you suddenly want to mate with him and why it would be in his best interest to accept it."

"It's Eliot," Eliot growled, who felt slightly ignored and hated it when people talked about him as if he wasn't even there. But he had used that also to free himself with the lock-picks and now stood up from the bed to the surprise of Lorne and Angel.

"And there's no need for you to free me, Lorne, I did that myself," he said, grinning smugly, especially when Angel gaped at him for a second.

"You really picked up some skills in the last eight years, didn't you?" he questioned and Eliot shrugged, ignoring the pain from his ankle and his ribs.

"I had to, or I'd be dead by now," he gave back and something in the tone of the hitter's voice made Angel want to wrap his arms around the younger man and shelter him from the world, even though it didn't particularly look like Eliot needed it. He wasn't backing down from Angel's vampire side even though he was injured and even though Angel would never admit it out loud, at least not in the near future, he was impressed with the former lawyer.

.  
>Eliot looked back and forth between Lorne and Angel, crossed his arms in front of his chest and then he asked: "Can we now talk about what the hell is going on here? I mean, I'm pretty sure I know the reason why you, Angel, have brought me to what appears to be your bedroom, even though I always thought you'd have better taste, because I know enough about vampire taking mates to feel rather uncomfortable with it and admit it. And I also know that it has something to do with what you, Lorne, have seen when I sang. So since this is all about me, the least I deserve is a full explanation."<p>

Eliot sighed, rubbed his elbow a little and then added: "And then I want out of here to calm down my team and especially my lover."

The last part had been a mistake, because before Eliot could react, he was shoved back down onto the bed and Angel, straddling his thighs, towered over him and growled: "I will let you explain to your team, Lindsey, but I won't lose you to this... this human... without a fight. His scent is all over you and I hate that..."

Eliot just stared at the souled vampire and he had the distinct feeling that Angel had meant to use a much more insulting word than "human" when talking about Nate, but he hadn't done so, because he didn't want to hurt his feelings.

"Okay, kiddies, let's calm down." Lorne once again tried to be the voice of reason and Eliot was thankful, because Angel immediately rose from the bed and Eliot could finally breath freely again.

He sat up, rubbed his sore ribs and glared at Angel.  
>"Can you stop with all that vamping-out? It's slowly getting on my nerves," he growled, his anger trying to mask the conflicted emotions he was trying to figure out. Sure, he had been scared when Angel had let his vampire out, but he also couldn't stop the tiny little voice in his head that told him how good it felt to be in Angel's arms and how much he had craved it when he was still with Wolfram and Hart.<p>

.

Angel shrugged, looking almost apologetic, something Eliot had rarely seen from the master vampire, especially directed towards himself.

"It's not my fault that your presence is driving me wild," Angel retorted and Eliot's eyes widened for a second, before he crossed his arms in front of his chest again.

"I see you haven't changed, always blaming others for your mood swings," Eliot said, before he stood up from the bed.

"And now tell me what the hell is going on here and what Wolfram and Hart wants from me and why you suddenly seem so intent to cuff me to your bed and probably would have forced me, if I gave you the chance." Eliot winced a little when he said that, but he knew of Angel's, or better Angelus's past and he knew what the now souled vampire was capable of and he had been afraid that it would come to this and maybe it would have, if Lorne hadn't been one step ahead of them once again.

The horrified look on Angel's face at the accusation that he would have taken Eliot against his will, made the hitter smile wryly for a second.

"Let's face it, Angel. You were losing control and if Lorne hadn't intervened, who knows what might have happened," he said, for some reason wanting to hurt Angel for everything he had put him through in the past.

Lorne looked as shocked as Angel did at the accusation, but he didn't say a word, because he knew that Angel and Lindsey, no Eliot now, he reminded himself, needed to get this out of their system or things would go to hell really soon... and in Angel's world, hell was to be taken literally.

.

Angel took a step closer to Eliot, holding his hands up in a pacifying gesture.

"I would never have forced you, Lindsey," he told the younger man, his voice softer than Eliot had ever heard him talk before. He swallowed, prepared to fight the vampire, but the look in Angel's eyes was so intense, that he found himself standing stock still.

"What makes you so sure of that, Angel? After all, you have hurt me in the past," Eliot told him, hating how weak his own voice sounded. Angel just stood there, only inches away from Eliot, his eyes focused solely on the younger man and again, the intense look in the vampire's eyes made Eliot feel uneasy and it confused him. He had the feeling that he was missing something important here, but he just couldn't figure it out.

And he sure wasn't prepared for the words, that Lorne whispered now: "For the same reason, that Wolfram and Hart wants you back, sugar... they know something even Angel wasn't aware of for a long time..."

The demon stopped for a second, a soft smile playing around his lips.

"Lindsey, Angel loves you and he probably always has..."

.

to be continued...

So, here it is, the new chapter, I really hope it's not too bad... I really tried my best and changed it around about five or six times, but it always come back to this... so yeah, I hope you like it and it won't discourage you from reading the next chapters that hopefully will be easier to write *sigh*

Comments would be, as always, most appreciated *shy smile*


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Hey everybody, again, sorry that it took me so long to update this story and I'm also sorry that not much is happening in this chapter.

I still hope that you will like it and bear with me for this chapter, because I promise there will be more action in the next chapter *smiles* and please keep in mind that English is not my native language...

Comments for this story are, as always, most appreciated. *puppy dog eyes*

.

Thank you to **SlytherinQueen020, McCoy's Secret Lover, dr3, msdarque, froggycomics, fro-chan, Jesco123, Guest and Evci **for all your kind words for the last chapter *hugs you all* That means a lot to me...

.

**Warnings: **This is sort of an AU and it has SLASH (Nate/Eliot as a current pairing and a love triangle with Angel) just so you're warned

.

**Disclaimer:** None of the Leverage and Angel characters belong to me, I just borrowed them for this little story and I intend to give them back sometime... this is just for fun and not for money...

.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

* * *

><p>.<p>

"Lindsey, Angel loves you and he probably always has..."

Lorne's words hung in the room and was met by total silence.

"It's Eliot now."

Really, it was the first thing that came to Eliot's mind, because he couldn't comprehend what Lorne had just told him, but he had to break the silence somehow or he'd go crazy. Then Eliot's eyes traveled to Angel and he waited for the vampire to star laughing at what Lorne had just said, but the mocking laugh never came. And when Eliot really looked at Angel, who avoided looking directly at Eliot, he felt some irrational anger at the vampire.

He crossed his arms in front of his chest and tried to be threatening, well, as threatening as possible given his current situation.

"You can't be serious about that, Lorne. All Angel has ever felt towards me is hate and definitely not love... maybe lust at some point, even though I highly doubt that too, but definitely not love," he spat and at his words Angel's head finally snapped up.

.

The vampire looked at Angel and shook his head vehemently.

"I never hated you," he denied, but Eliot just snorted at that.

"Well, if it wasn't hate, then it was in the very least contempt," Eliot said and stared at the vampire, his eyes wide and his arms still crossed tightly in front of his chest, but now more as some sort of shield from Angel's dark eyes and Lorne's inquisitive ones.

The demon was it, who shook his head this time.

"Sugar, even though Angel did everything to push you away and convince himself and everybody around him, including you, that he hated and loathed you, it never really worked that well. The sexual tension between you two was evident almost every encounter the two of you have had in the past. And we wouldn't have been surprised if, instead of beating each other up, you had jumped each other." There was a slight trace of humor in Lorne's voice when he said those last words, but the rest of it was said completely serious.

Eliot once again wanted to protest, well, except that yeah, he had come close to kiss Angel once or twice when the vampire had pressed him against a wall or a door. But then he took one look in the master vampire's eyes and after Eliot thought about everything that had happened between them in the past, everything made perfect sense.

.

"I need to sit down," he murmured and sat down on the bed behind him, still a little uncomfortable, but the last thing he needed, was to collapse again. That would only give Angel the chance to vamp out on him again and Eliot so didn't want and need that either.

"Lindsey... I..." Angel started, but Eliot quickly stopped him.

"Don't, Angel... just don't..." he spat angrily, furious when he thought about how much better his life could have been if Angel had just admitted how he felt and would have helped him to get out from Wolfram and Hart. Then Lindsey wouldn't have been forced to run, to disappear and to become the monster Eliot Spencer that was a feared retrieval specialist all over the world and who had done some things that Eliot would never be free of.

But then Eliot quickly rid himself of those thoughts. He had a new life with a new sort-of-family now and he had Nate, who he was slowly falling in love with, if he wasn't in love with the older man already.

So what he might have felt for Angel in the past was totally irrelevant now.

.

And besides, there were more important things than his feelings to discuss. Sure, Angel had made it pretty clear that he wanted to mate with Eliot and that he would, without Eliot's consent if necessary. So whatever Lorne had seen when the Hitter had sung must have been pretty bad, because Angel would never mate with him willingly, but only if it meant he'd save the world if he did. He had a hero-complex like that. So Eliot really needed to find out what he was up against.

"And what in hell do Angel's messed up feelings for me have to do with Wolfram & Hart wanting me back all of a sudden? They haven't cared about me in the past five years after I killed the last of their retrieval demons. And don't tell me it's because Angel loves me, because I still refuse to believe that this is true. The only reason I can see for Angel to want to mate with me is to save the world," the Hitter said between gritted teeth and looked at the demon and the vampire.

Both of them shared a look that made Eliot feel quite uneasy and he shifted a little, his eyes going to the door, wondering if he could make a run for it, but giving the look on Angel's face, probably not.

But right now he really wanted to go and talk to Nate about all of this. So he really wanted to get to the bottom of this whole mess, because the faster he did, the faster he'd be able to go back to his team.

.

Lorne finally broke that new silence, shuffling a little on his feet.

"Well, see sugar, there's this prophecy that involves you and Angel here... together..." the demon started, but when he saw the look on Eliot's face, he stopped and scratched the back of his head.

"Don't look at me like that, sugar. It's not my fault. I only tell you what I see," he added and sighed, honest regret in his voice.

Eliot ran a wary hand over his face and nodded slowly.

"I know that, Lorne, but that doesn't make things much better," the Hitter answered and gave the demon a slight smile, totally ignoring Angel, who had started pacing the room.

"And what exactly does this prophecy say?" Eliot asked, because he still hadn't gotten a definite answer.

Lorne was about to answer, but suddenly the door burst open and Nate, Wesley and Parker nearly tumbled into the room. Angel whirled around, looking angrily at Wesley.

"How on Earth did you get in here? I used a spell," he snarled, clearly not happy with the intrusion and he knew that one of his team had to have helped them, because he was pretty sure that none of the Leverage team knew how to use magic, well except Lindsey, but he couldn't have done it.

Wesley quickly hid the little scroll he had used to break Angel's charm behind his back and then he shrugged apologetically.

"I had to open it, Angel, or Hardison would have erased our entire existence with just two clicks on his computer. It's really amazing what he can do with a computer," he defended himself and Parker smirked evilly, proud of her sort-of-boyfriend for finding leverage to get Angel's team to help them free Eliot.

.

Nate ignored the vampire, walked over to Eliot and sat beside him on the bed, putting a hand on the Hitter's knee.

"Are you alright?" he asked, concern shining in his eyes. Eliot gave him a small, reassuring smile and put his own hand on top of Nate's.

"I'm alright, well, as good as I can be considering the situation," he answered with a slight sigh, completely ignoring the look of hatred Angel sent Nate, because he knew that the vampire wouldn't attack Nate in here with all of them present.

Sophie, Cordelia, Fred and Hardison, the Hacker with a smug grin on his face, were now standing in the room too, looking curiously at the situation.

Nate left his hand on Eliot's knee and then he looked at Lorne, because he was far more likely to give him an answer than Angel, who looked like he wanted to rip Nathan's hand off just because he touched Eliot where the vampire couldn't.

.

"And what exactly is the situation?" he wanted to know, no, scratch that, he needed to know what was going on and how he could best protect his lover from all of these things that hid in this city. And he cursed himself for not listening when Eliot had objected to this job. The Hitter had not wanted to do it and Nate knew he needed to apologize for not taking his lover's complaints serious.

Now they were in the middle of something he couldn't really understand and his lover was a key player here, no matter if he wanted to be or not.

And Nate finally wanted some honest and clear answers, not those evasive ones Cordelia and Fred had given them outside while they had waited for Wesley to complete the counter-spell to Angel's and Parker had picked the lock.

.

Lorne smiled softly. He was happy that his Lindsey had obviously found a family that cared about the young, lonely man that had wormed his way into the demon's heart without attempting to. And he could also see the love between this Nathan and Eliot and that made things so much more complicated. So Lorne didn't have the heart to tell them all the whole truth, not yet, not until he was sure that there was no way around the prophecy.

"It's a little complicated to explain to outsiders, Mr. Ford," he started, not exactly sure what to tell them. Sophie snorted, totally unladylike, but she too was getting impatient and she was tired, and when she was tired then she got grumpy.

"I'm sure you are perfectly capable of explaining this to us, Mr. Lorne," she gave back, her voice held a dangerous edge, because she wanted to show that Sophie Devereaux was a woman you didn't want to mess with, no matter if you were a supernatural being or not.

Lorne couldn't help but smile a little. He really liked Lindsey's new family. His sugar had chosen well and he hated that he needed to interrupt Lindsey's new life as Eliot Spencer, because he had apparently done very well for himself.

.

The demon scratched the back of his head again, his eyes darting between Nate, Angel and Eliot. The Hitter was the key player here and they needed to protect him no matter what the cost was. He smiled a little sadly and then he looked straight at Eliot to show the younger man that he was seriously sorry that he had gotten dragged back into this.

"I'm sure I can explain it to all of you, but I'm not sure you will like what I have to say," he began, wondering how much he could and should tell them.

So he decided to just tell them the main point of the problem with blunt honesty.

"To protect Lindsey and essentially save the world, I fear there's not much of a choice but for Lindsey and Angel to become mates..."

.

to be continued...


End file.
